PER: 2011 Volume 14 No 4http://hdl.handle.net/10394/46752017-09-26T21:49:51Z2017-09-26T21:49:51ZInformation and Knowledge Management at South African Law FirmsDu Plessis, Thttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/46842016-04-28T21:01:02Z2011-01-01T00:00:00ZInformation and Knowledge Management at South African Law Firms
Du Plessis, T
Global and national law firms alike operate in a challenging business environment
and managing the firm's information and knowledge assets is increasingly viewed as
a key factor in efficient legal service delivery. In legal practice, information
management technologies, for example intranets, portals, workflow management
systems, document and content management systems, case and project
management systems and online dispute resolution systems are becoming important
means of legal service delivery. The reason for applying information management
technologies and implementing knowledge management strategies in law firms is not
only to satisfy clients' growing need for a trusted online platform to interact with legal
service providers, but for law firms to capitalise on their intellectual assets, to
continuously modernise legal practice management, to empower lawyers, to
increase productivity, to use time efficiently, to transfer skills and knowledge from
senior to junior professionals, to improve service delivery and to gain competitive
advantage. This article firstly reviews the role of information and knowledge
management in providing an effective legal service to clients and compares foreign
and South African law firms' information management related contexts, challenges
and benefits. Secondly, it presents the findings of a survey conducted at South
African law firms based on their knowledge management practices. The aim of the
article is to provide insights into law firm knowledge management and its effect on
providing legal services in an online business environment.
2011-01-01T00:00:00ZIn Defence of PashukanismKoen, R Ahttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/46812016-04-28T21:01:03Z2011-01-01T00:00:00ZIn Defence of Pashukanism
Koen, R A
This essay presents an extended defence of the general theory of law formulated by the
Bolshevik jurist, Evgeny Pashukanis, and published in his Law and Marxism: A General
Theory in 1924. The general theory is a theory of the legal form. Although Pashukanis
did not name his theory, it has become known as the commodity form theory of law
because of its theorising the legal form as a homologue of the commodity form.
However, despite having weighty Marxist and revolutionary Bolshevik credentials, the
general theory has been subjected to sustained attack, especially from new left and
neo–Marxist circles. This essay identifies and explicates six major objections to
Pashukanism from its left critics. These are that the general theory is too abstract to
comprehend the reality of legal relations; that it is infused with economic reductionism;
that it derives the legal form wrongly from commodity exchange; that it classifies the
legal form incorrectly as an attribute of capitalism only; that it lacks the generality
required of a general theory of law; and that it is imbricated in the growth of anarchism
and Stalinism.
Following a brief exegetical exercise, the bulk of the essay is devoted to demonstrating
in detail that each of the six objections to the general theory is without merit, and that
none makes any serious incursion into its integrity as a theory of the legal form. The
central submission of the essay is that the Pashukanist general theory of law is rooted
in the first principles of classical Marxism and hence may lay claim legitimately to being
the Marxist theory of law.
2011-01-01T00:00:00ZDNA Profiling and the Law in South AfricaDe Wet, SOosthuizen, HVisser, Jhttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/46822016-04-28T21:00:58Z2011-01-01T00:00:00ZDNA Profiling and the Law in South Africa
De Wet, S; Oosthuizen, H; Visser, J
DNA evidence is currently at the forefront of the arsenal of evidence employed in
criminal trials. To ensure its optimum use in criminal proceedings, it is imperative that
the legal fraternity is properly conversant with the scientific basis and presentation of such evidence, as well as with its potential pitfalls. In an effort to provide the legal
profession with a background to this complex and useful type of evidence, this article
looks at the biochemical nature of DNA, at DNA profiling and its use in criminal trials,
and at the processes of DNA collection and analysis in the Biology Unit of the
Forensic Science Laboratory of the South African Police Service. The presentation of
DNA evidence in court is then evaluated and the future of DNA evidence, including
legislative reform, and the creation of a DNA database are discussed.
2011-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Requirement of Being a "Fit and Proper" Person for the Legal ProfessionSlabbert, Mhttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/46832016-04-28T21:49:29Z2011-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Requirement of Being a "Fit and Proper" Person for the Legal Profession
Slabbert, M
An important requirement for admission as an attorney or advocate is to be a "fit and
proper" person. Lawyers are also struck from the respective rolls of advocates or
attorneys if they cease to be "fit and proper". This requirement of being a "fit and
proper" person is not defined or described in legislation. It is left to the subjective
interpretation of and application by seniors in the profession and ultimately the court.
In the apartheid years this requirement was applied arbitrarily but today the question
may be asked why some lawyers who have been found to be "fit and proper" do not
act as such. The pre–admission character screening of lawyers seems not to be
effective any more. Post– admission moral development is imperative.
2011-01-01T00:00:00Z